The invention relates generally to a tamper resistant wide mouth package which readily shows any evidence of tampering and, more particularly, to a tamper resistant package which includes a container and a closure for use in collecting a sample.
The package is such that once a sample is collected in the container and the closure is attached to the container, the closure cannot be readily opened or removed from the container by anyone thereby preventing tampering, contamination or accidental spillage of the sample. Any attempt to open the package cannot be repaired. Alternatively, the tamper resistant wide mouth package of the present invention can be used in the medical, food and chemical industries.
There is now a great need for packages which are tamper resistant. Tamper resistant packages of the snap-on type have not been successfully used in the food or chemical fields or in sample collection. Rather, many packages are tamper protected with tamper indicating rings which are attached to a peripheral skirt of a closure and are torn or broken from the closure when the closure is removed. In such packages, the evidence of opening attempts is shown on the side of the package. Therefore, each package must be turned and carefully inspected by hand; which careful inspection is often neglected. The sealing provisions of each package are rather limited and the bands can be easily repaired or the closure can be opened without visible tamper evidence to the band. Further, it is known that loose pilfer bands can be repaired.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,024,976 discloses a package having a tamperproofing band molded integrally with the container. The band is positioned so that it encloses at least the bottom edge of the closure cap skin when the cap is applied to the container. This requires that at least a portion of the band be removed before the cap can be removed from the container.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,027,775 discloses a container and lid having a guard flange extending about the side wall of the container immediately below and outwardly beyond the skirt of the lid. The guard flange has weakened portions which provide a removable section which may be broken away to unshield a portion of the lid skirt and permit removal of the lid.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,111,329 discloses a container having a tamperproof and stackable lid. The container has a radially extending flange which cooperates with the skirt of the cap to prevent the cap from being removed until a portion of the cap skirt is removed. The cap skirt comprises an upper portion and a lower portion with the lower portion forming a tear-off strip that is connected to the upper portion by means of vertically oriented stacking ribs. The ribs allow a plurality of caps to be stacked upon one another. The lower portion of the skirt defines an opening which enables the handler to insert a tool and then to tear the lower portion away from the upper portion of the cap skirt.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,422,559 discloses a plastic container and closure which may be repeatedly snapped together. The closure has an outer skirt and an inner concentric flange providing a channel to receive a container rim. A tear strip on the container is located adjacent the lower edge of the closure skirt in order to prevent access to the lower edge of the closure skirt without destructive removal of the tear strip.
Various other prior art tamper resistant packages only provide marginal leak protection which often results in messy spills and odors from the sample collected. Further, other prior art packages are structurally vulnerable in that side pressure in the rim area of the package often causes deformation and breaking of the pilfer band. Other problems associated with the prior art tamper resistant packages are readily known.